I am thinking about building an HTPC and it needs to be able to do the following: i) HDMI out to my Samsung LCD, ii) optical out to my home receiver, iii) massive storage, iv) quiet, v) network access (not in any particular order) Also, am not sure if I should make the system Blue-ray capable since I have a PS3 and don't own or plan on buying any Blue-Ray movies in the near future. Nor, have I been able to decide on a tv-tuner - any advice would be appreciated!

I would appreciate any feedback if you have past experience with any of these components or recommendations for alternative gear. Thanks.

I am thinking about building an HTPC and it needs to be able to do the following: i) HDMI out to my Samsung LCD, ii) optical out to my home receiver, iii) massive storage, iv) quiet, v) network access (not in any particular order) Also, am not sure if I sure make the system Blue-ray capable since I have a PS3 and don't own or plan on buying any Blue-Ray movies in the near future. Nor, have I been able to decide on a tv-tuner - any advice would be appreciated!

I would appreciate any feedback if you have past experience with any of these components or recommendations for alternative gear. Thanks.

The 4830 card is overkill unless you are planning on gaming. If you're not a hardcore gamer, get a 4650 which will pass 7.1 LPCM audio to your receiver over HDMI. Thus, rendering unnecessary your sound card choice.

You can get a cheaper micro ATX board, or at least similarly priced (780G) that will use less power, if thats a concern. But, it looks good.

mr007 - thanks for pointing that out....def a nice to know.....also thanks for the advice on the sound card....now i can spend that $$$ at the bar

redtyler1 - Hauppage was definitely my top consideration, thanks for confirming.....I am not a gamer and thus i will def. look into the 4650 as an option (thanks for the suggestion)....and less power -> less heat -> less noise, more smiles so again thanks....also i looked into a micro ATX board, my concern is the size of the board for future additions

Is the ability to screw oneself a good thing or a bad thing? And how is that an acceptible substitute for taxation?

Quote:

Originally Posted by nalij

Nor, have I been able to decide on a tv-tuner - any advice would be appreciated!

I couldn't find a reference to your OS choice and whether you want the TV tuner to support ATSC (OTA) or QAM (cable). The AVerMedia m780 supports native QAM with Vista Media Center's TV Pack 2008 (Fiji). I don't believe Hauppauge has this support. Setting up QAM manually is a huge pain in the butt.

Total of 12
Avermedia A180s so far, one dead at 2years another has gone partially funky (only tunes up to RF25) but the rest are going realy strong. For a specialized situation I'm using a HDHomerun too, but the A180 is my lasting love and it does cable QAM with TV Pack 2008. I'm certain that another tuner will someday tempt me but I'm loyal (but not quite monogamous) for now...

GA-M578LI-S4 is a two year old model (Socket AM2, released in May 2006) and there is no CPU upgrade path (for the upcoming 45 nm AM3 processors that will last through 2010). GA-MA78G-DS3H or the upcoming GA-MA78G-DS3HP is a better choice. Or GA-MA78GM-S2HP for mATX.

Happyfunboater - my current provider is Optimum so I would need a QAM set up - particularly one that supports a cable card so I can record those HD channels...my plan is to initialize the set up with MCE and not Vista....i've read a few forums about the pain to get QAM going right, thanks for the heads up

JJ - Thanks for the confirmation that Avermedia turners are not the way to go...as you have had 12 in two years....i think ill go with a Hauppage model when i find out that suits all my needs

renethx - some of the BEST advice yet...exactly the type of info i was looking for....i will certainly look into your two suggested ATX boards

Happyfunboater - my current provider is Optimum so I would need a QAM set up - particularly one that supports a cable card so I can record those HD channels...my plan is to initialize the set up with MCE and not Vista....i've read a few forums about the pain to get QAM going right, thanks for the heads up

Given what you're read about the pain of getting QAM going, are you really sure you want to use MCE instead of Vista? TV Pack 2008 (Fiji), which automates QAM support, is only available for Vista. You also mentioned that you were leaning towards Hauppauge. Are you sure they support QAM under MCE or VMC?

Given what you're read about the pain of getting QAM going, are you really sure you want to use MCE instead of Vista? TV Pack 2008 (Fiji), which automates QAM support, is only available for Vista. You also mentioned that you were leaning towards Hauppauge. Are you sure they support QAM under MCE or VMC?

I already own a copy of MCE and am not a big fan of Vista...so unless i get it free i dont see myself going to get a copy anytime soon...i'd rather wait to see what windows 7 has to offer....

And no I am not sure that Hauppuage supports QAM for MCE, which is why I havent selected a tv card yet

If you know of a solid card for MCE preferably made by Hauppuage that supports QAM and potentially a cable card - let me know....

I don't know too much more than what I've already mentioned, but here it all is:

I installed a Hauppauge card about a year ago in a Vista x64 system with 4GB of RAM and never got it working. There was a known issue with 4GB systems (not x64, surprisingly). I don't know if they ever fixed the problem, but I'd like to assume that they did. I switched to the AVerMedia M780 (with a free Media Center remote and IR hub) and haven't had a problem since day one.

I always got the impression that Hauppauge was the "king of the hill" for TV tuners, but with QAM support under Media Center AVerMedia seems to have surged ahead. Just from reading various forums, I "think" that Hauppauge only supports QAM under their own application, not Media Center. I could be wrong. And I am also pretty sure (again, just from reading forums, not first hand experience) that only AVerMedia supports TV Pack 2008. But if you're stuck with MCE then TV Pack 2008 is out of the question.

Given how hard it is to set up QAM, are you sure you really want it? On my local cable the QAM stations are barely more than I can pick up via antenna. I think I get a few extra PBS stations. You won't get any of the encrypted QAM channels. I'm lucky enough that I can use a cheap indoor antenna and pick up the local stations with almost 100% signal level. This might not be an option for you.

I am thinking about building an HTPC and it needs to be able to do the following: i) HDMI out to my Samsung LCD, ii) optical out to my home receiver, iii) massive storage, iv) quiet, v) network access (not in any particular order) Also, am not sure if I should make the system Blue-ray capable since I have a PS3 and don't own or plan on buying any Blue-Ray movies in the near future. Nor, have I been able to decide on a tv-tuner - any advice would be appreciated!

I would appreciate any feedback if you have past experience with any of these components or recommendations for alternative gear. Thanks.